Always a Place in Her Heart for Lovelace

Both originally born and raised in Arizona, Marilyn Meister and her husband have spent most of their married life together living in New Mexico. They were loyal to Lovelace Medical Center, then located on Gibson SE. When the hospital moved to the former St. Joseph Hospital on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in 2007, the Meister family had already moved to Tennessee. After 12 years, they returned to New Mexico, but Marilyn admits, “I wasn’t sure if it was going to be the same care or not.” When she chose Lovelace Women’s Hospital for her care, Marilyn was happy to find it was the same Lovelace she knew. “They were super. Just the name and people had changed.”

To be closer to their two children and four grandchildren, the Meisters are getting ready to move back to Tennessee, but not before stopping by and visiting with the Lovelace providers they have come to know and love over the years. “We paid our last visit to the Heart Hospital of New Mexico at Lovelace Medical Center Wednesday, August 13, 2014 to say goodbye to a few of the staff members,” she shares. Marilyn suffered from Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) in recent years and worked with her doctors at New Mexico Heart Institute and the Heart Hospital of New Mexico at Lovelace Medical Center to manage frequent episodes, which kept the couple from moving back to Tennessee sooner. “I was all over that hospital and I never had a problem at all,” she says. “We were treated like royalty every time we went in there. They got to know us by sight.”

Last December, Marilyn underwent an AV node ablation to treat her AFib, allowing her heart to rely on her pacemaker alone for electrical activity to her heart. Again she was in the care of the staff that had been with her and her husband along the way. “We cannot say enough about the excellent, caring people who work both downstairs and upstairs,” Marilyn adds. “It is sad when a person such as I had been there so many times that the staff knew me when I walked in and by first name. On the other hand, it was nice to know that they paid attention and remembered who I was. They even look after my husband. There was always an extra food tray for him when mine came up.”

Feeling stronger and free of AFib episodes, Marilyn is looking forward to their move closer to family, with Lovelace always close to her heart. “I put Lovelace and the Heart Hospital at the top of my list,” she says.

If you need a cardiologist, or other doctor, we are happy to help. Please call 727-2727 to make an appointment today.